Posted in end time, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy

"Children of the Light” – “Day of the Lord” by R Graham

This essay is 1800 words, but it’s really good. Skim it, read it in two parts, whatever you need to do, but I think Mr Graham did a fine job and I hope it blesses you.

“Children of the Light” – “Day of the Lord”
By Ron Graham

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5.

If you are a born again child of God, you are one of the children of light spoken of by the Apostle Paul in the last verse above, therefore you cannot, and will not, be overtaken as a thief would overtake the unsuspecting. Why won’t you be among the crowd that will be overcome with sudden destruction? The “Day of the Lord” mentioned in verse 2 above is referring to the day of God’s wrath. The title given us (Christ’s Church) is “children of light” if you are in the “Light” category you are “In Christ” therefore you will not be on earth when God pours out His wrath on this Christ rejecting world.

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet speaks numerous times of the “Day of the Lord”. One such verse that really catches the eye is “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Isaiah 13:9. When the Lord comes back to earth this time He won’t come as a suffering servant, but as a conquering King. He will come with cruel wrath and fierce anger to destroy all who’ve rejected Him. Isaiah doesn’t mince words; the reader knows exactly what God’s actions will be when He once again sets physical foot on planet earth.

It is Paul’s intention to explain further to the Thessalonian Church that they are not part of those who dwell in darkness; therefore they will not experience the “Day of the Lord”. Paul starts off using words like “you” and “yourself” in verse 2 of 1 Thessalonians 5, speaking of the church. Then he changes to “they” and “them” referring to those who’ve spent their lives dwelling in darkness – those who’ve had no use for Jesus Christ their entire lives. For when “they” shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon “them”, as travail upon a woman with child; and “they” shall not escape.

Those who choose to remain in darkness will be left here on earth to contend with God’s fierce anger. We who are born again – although just as deserving of God’s punishment as those who dwell in darkness – will never face a moment of God’s wrath. How thankful are we that Jesus was willing to sacrifice Himself on that cross. He took all of our sins and nailed them to that cross. The sin of the world nailed and forgotten, but only those who are born again are forgiven.

“Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.” Isaiah 26:20-21. When the children of light are safely hidden and the door is shut, then the indignation will come. For the children of light, paradise will be our staging area whilst “the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth”.

“For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.” Isaiah 13:10-11. Those folks who will be left to deal with God’s wrath will first be plunged into darkness – darkness will be the norm around the world. Then God will punish them for their evil, wicked ways. Those arrogant enough to reject His free gift of salvation even going as far as to say there is no God – that we all evolved from pond scum – will immediately be reminded of their foolishness.

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:14. This verse has been used by pastors as a draw to those who still need to make a decision for Christ. But, in all actuality, time has run out for the multitudes left standing in this valley. Since the valley of decision is the location of the battle of Armageddon it’s not some sort of safe haven or a place to finally make up your mind one way or the other concerning Jesus Christ. Joel is referring to this valley as a valley of judgment – by this time, if you haven’t made a decision to believe and accept God’s free gift of salvation, it’s too late. God’s judgment has come.

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:” Acts 2:20. Notice the word “before” in this verse, darkness will reign supreme even before “that great and notable Day of the Lord” comes barreling down on this wicked, perverse generation. Yes, this generation.

“The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness… And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zephaniah 1:14-15, 17-18. Many times in the Old Testament we see prophecy with dual fulfillment. King Josiah inherited a corrupt nation from his father Amon and grandfather Manasseh, a nation almost wholly given over to idolatry (2 Kings 21:3-7). Here God announces judgment against the idol worshippers in Israel. Although Zephaniah speaks of how God will judge a rebellious Judah, a future fulfillment is also in view here. God will once again judge the wicked earth dwellers – neither their gold nor silver will do them any good in the “Day of the Lord”. This prophecy is about to be fulfilled, God’s wrath is about to be poured out on a Christ rejecting world. No one, in their right mind, should desire to see and be a part of the final fulfillment of Zephaniah’s prophecy.

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Malachi 4:1. All of these prophets are speaking of the same future event. It’s the “Day of the Lord”; it’s the wrath of God being poured out on a generation that has thoroughly rejected God and His Christ and turned to wickedness (as in the days of Noah), and to postpone His wrath God would only be allowing all humanity to destroy themselves. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Matthew 24:21-22. The elect are those who have become followers of Jesus Christ during the Great Tribulation. We, the Church, will be watching from the mezzanine.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. Here we’re told of God’s patience – that He is longsuffering to us-ward. This means that God is slow to anger – slow to punish. But don’t forget that He is not slack concerning His promise. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” 2 Peter 3:9-10.

Throughout His Word, God places so much emphasis on the approaching “Day of the Lord” that for us to merely relegate it to allegory, or shrug it off as a future event unimportant to us today is foolishness and completely misses His point. He’s made a promise that His wrath will be unleashed. Yes, God is longsuffering to us-ward but He’s trying to get the point across to everyone who has an ear to hear with that although He is slow to anger and slow to punish, His anger will eventually be poured out and soon, but only on those who’ve rejected His free gift of salvation.

At this point you might want to do some real soul searching to be absolutely sure just where you stand in relation to the Creator of the universe. Have you heard the Gospel of Christ? Have you believed? Have you placed Jesus Christ first in your life? Or is there an idol in that most important place in your heart?

The Children of the Light/Day, are all those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus the Christ alone for salvation. We are those who will be caught up to be with the Lord prior to “Day of the Lord” (the wrath of God).

Many folks disagree when it comes to this mystery we refer to as the Rapture of the Church, but as seemingly old and tired as the cliché becomes it’s still just as appropriate today as we’re continually confronted by the naysayers. We simply tell them not to worry; we’ll explain it to them on the way up.

God bless you all,
Ron Grahamtwotug@embarqmail.com
96 County Road 5480-Salem, MO 65560
All scripture is from the KJV and God breathed
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Posted in end time, prophecy, x-class flare

Solar X-class flare, report

I reported last last night (here) that an X-class solar flare has occurred. At that post, I noted what an X-class flares is and what its possible effects on earth may be. Now we have a little more detail from Astronomy report about where the flare will be hitting–

From Astronomy Report:

“Sunspot 1158 has exploded again, this time producing a X2.2 Class Solar Flare. It also caused an R3 Radio Black Out on the on sunlit side of Earth. The storm should hit the Earth about the time the sun is coming up on the East coast of the united states, so a majority of the energy should be directed at the Atlantic Ocean. Solar storms like this usually only last for a few hours, so most of the energy should be absorbed before the sun reaches it zenith on the East Coast. If for some reason the storm slows down, as they sometimes do, more of the energy will be directed towards the East Coast.”

“This storm was pretty well tracked and was actually predicted by several solar weather agencies around the world, so most satellite operators should have ample warning to get their systems in safe mode. It may cause temporary disruption of services, but it shouldn’t permanently damage any satellites. Radio communications may be temporarily disrupted as well, though it may only reduce the range of radio transmissions rather than black them out.”

“During the initial blast wave that hits the Earth, it may cause some beautiful aurora in both the southern and northern hemispheres. North America, should have a beautiful view in the early morning hours as far south as Utah. During this early blast wave, our magnetosphere will quake and will also allow more radiation through than normal. It is possible that air traffic will be rerouted or even possibly canceled during the early part of the storm.”

I have some thoughts on this regarding the end time tribulation period, the magnetosphere, and some news out of Louisiana that may relate. I’ll post it later this afternoon, after work.
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Posted in end time, jerusalem ufo, prophecy

Third video of Jerusalem UFO, shows it really close

I’m sorry. I have to do it. I’m fascinated with the UFO over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock. A third video of this recent sighting that lit up the Internet with discussion  has surfaced, this one much closer and from a vantage point where the UFO is blindingly bright. I’m posting it. The people taking the video seem to be French-speaking tourists…It is one minute long. The first video was taken by two young men speaking an Arab language, and the second was from American tourists.

I wrote previously about the Jerusalem UFO here with biblical explanation of my opinion of what UFOs are. When a second vid surfaced I posted again here.We are rocking and rolling toward the end of the church age, aren’t we!

For a biblical explanation of why the bible gives us no reason to believe extraterrestrial life exists, read this good essay from Got Questions.org

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Posted in end time, prophecy, ufo jerusalem closer

A closer view of the Jerusalem UFO

On January 30, I posted an entry about a UFO over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The entry contained two videos from the same vantage point of a hovering white light that suddenly descended to the top of the Temple Mount over the Muslim Dome of the Rock, then swooped upward and broke into tiny twinkling red lights. I maintained that if was not a hoax, then it was a demonic angel, for it was highly unlikely that the most contested piece of real estate amid the most heavily guarded air space would fail to shoot down an incoming like this UFO.

Another video has surfaced of the same UFO, but much closer, giving the UFO more credence that it is not a hoax. One bystander commented that it was so bright you could hardly look at it. Here is the 47 second vid:

Please read the previous entry for a biblical stance on what the UFO’s mean.

Posted in blizzard, end time, prophecy

Here be monsters! Several humungous storms affecting millions

Cyclone Yasi bearing down on the northeast corner of Australia, already flooded from weeks of rains.

In Australia/New Zealand, the folks down under are preparing for Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Queensland cyclone could be biggest ever seen. Now that’s some headline! “Queensland premier Anna Bligh is warning residents to prepare themselves for a “frightening experience” as Cyclone Yasi approaches.”

Other newscasters speak thus of the monster:

Tony Eastley: If the size of the satellite image is anything to go by then Cyclone Yasi bursting in from the Coral Sea is a potentially highly destructive storm system. It’s one of the largest tropical cyclones to approach the north Queensland coast for decades.” Other forecasters are saying the storm is a “once in a lifetime storm.” The storm is headed to already-flooded north Australia. Crops that may be wiped out are bananas, sugar, and of course tourism. Australia’s economy and certainly the world’s does not need another economic blow and more crops washed away in storms. The officials in Oz are really worried about Yasi. “Yasi will be worse than Larry” The article opens: “Severe tropical Cyclone Yasi will hit the north Queensland coast with greater ferocity than devastating Cyclone Larry, Premier Anna Bligh says. Ms Bligh, speaking after a meeting of the state disaster management group on Tuesday, said winds of more than 250km/h could be expected from the high category four system. By comparison Larry, which devastated Innisfail and surrounds in 2006, was a mid-level category four system. Larry damaged about 10,000 homes and caused $1.5 billion in damage.” Yasi is Australia’s Katrina.

In America, the headlines are also reporting on another monster storm. A once in a lifetime, record setting, deadly storm. This time it’s snow and ice. “A monster winter storm took aim at a third of the nation Monday, threatening to lay a potentially deadly path of heavy snow and ice from the Rockies to New England, followed by a wave of bitter, bone-rattling cold that could affect tens of millions of people.” Not just millions affected, but tens of millions. The Washington Post talks of the Midwest and New England being buried. “National Weather Service advisories and warnings are in effect in more than 20 states as a powerful storm gets organized in the Midwest. A blizzard warning is in effect for Chicago, where 12 to 20 inches of snow is possible. Other cities which may experience blizzard conditions include Tulsa, Wichita, Kansas City, and Detroit. The Chicago Tribune’s Weather Center cautions: “Snowfall totals in excess of 12 inches coupled with winds of 25 to 40 mph will make long distance travel extremely dangerous if not impossible.”

People in 20 states pinned down and buried, commerce at a standstill, plow rage erupting, lost business, lost revenues…Weather.com is saying that a third of the United States’ population could be affected. They are simply calling it “destructive”, “colossal”, “historic.”

And remember a week ago, China and Mongolia suffered under their biggest storm in years, if ever. “Rescue workers evacuated thousands of rural residents from parts of northwestern China after extreme cold and blizzard conditions killed four people and left half a million snowed under, meteorologists said Monday. “In neighboring Mongolia, an official appealed for help from the international community as his country battles the most severe winter it has seen in three decades. Storms in China’s far western Xinjiang flattened or damaged about 100,000 homes and more than 15,000 head of livestock were killed by the cold front that set in Sunday night.”

Why all these monster storms? It’s the end time, that’s why. These increasingly large warnings from the God who holds all weather in His hands is warning us to repent. I know many of you have heard this before and I know you believe that weather is just weather. But by now, do you really believe that? The crazy weather, the constant storms, the outsized monsters parading across the globe and bringing chaos in their wake…do you really think all that is just a coincidence? It’s not. After the rapture when Christians are gone (true born again believers that is) the storms will increase in an order of magnitude that will outstrip your ability to comprehend them. By then, the warnings of today will have turned to judgment tomorrow, and these monsters will seem like child’s play in comparison.

The Good News is that Jesus is warning us because He loves us. His death on the cross was the punishment for sin’s crimes, and He took that punishment. So far you may have rejected that pardon, but you have time to still take it before the storms I described a minute ago get truly bad. Email me and ask me more, if you want. But trust me, these monster, historic, record-setting storms will pale in comparison to judgment. You really need to think about what’s going on in the world and entertain the possibility that us crazy born again bible thumpers just may be right.

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Posted in end time, pre-tribulation rapture, prophecy

My left-behind "Rapture Sheet"

Hello all,

I finished a project I’ve been working on all day. Like all Christians, we feel a burden for the lost. That is why we bring up Jesus to people even though we know some people will get aggravated or even reject us. Well, a few months ago the Holy Spirit gave me a burden for doing a certain project. You see, we will be raptured soon. I don’t know exactly when, no one does. (Matthew 24:36 says “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”) But Paul said we who believe and are watching will not be surprised, “But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6). Both Paul and Matthew were speaking of the last moments of the Tribulation but the time period is the same, the rapture will come as the punctuation of the end of the Church age and as the opening bell for the Tribulation. “The Day” is the 7 year period of judgment on the world.

In finishing John MacArthur’s book “Because the End is Near: An explanation of the Book of Revelation” the judgments on the unbelieving world were brought graphically home to me. You do not want your worst enemy to go through that. The rapture will happen at some point and since most people are at work 8 hours/day or longer, there is a one-in-three chance it will occur while we are at work. Imagine your colleagues’ confusion, fear, grief. Some who know about Jesus but never repented will know what happened. Others will have no clue. They are the children of darkness Paul mentioned, who are asleep. How will they know what had happened? How will they know what to do?

You know those axes stationed on the wall at intervals in a case that says “In case of fire, break glass”?

I am following the burden from the Spirit to make a “Rapture Sheet”. It is a one-page explanation of what happened, why it happened, and what the left behind people should do. It is one page, front and back. I am putting it inside a new bible, placing post-it notes on the salient bible verses, and wrapping in saran wrap with the title that says, “In case of rapture, open here”. What more important fire extinguisher is there than the bible? The altered photo below is only a pun, of course I am not making glass cases. I plan to put several wrapped bibles at work, places where people sit at a common desk and use the phone. Maybe you have a break room or a lunch room or a common area to just quietly place a bible with its explanatory sheet inside, where it will be seen and the existence of it will sink in over the next months. When the moment comes maybe someone will say, “Hey! I saw a bible over there once, let’s go get it!”

I understand that it’s likely that when we all disappear, that people’s first reaction will likely be to run for their car and go home, or to the day care to check on their kids. I know that. I also know that in many work places there are not even any Christians employed there, or so few that no one will miss us at first. But that doesn’t matter. For a few dollars of new bibles and a few hours of prayer to let the right Spirit-led verses come to mind, and a few hours of writing, I can put bibles with rapture explanation in a place where it might help someone at the most critical moment in all of human history. Here is the “Rapture Sheet” below. Tell me what you think. Is it clear? Uncomplicated enough, but direct? If you like it, please feel free to copy it for yourself. Or, pray to the Spirit who will lead you to verses He knows people in your place of employment need.
—————————————-

Where did they go?

If you are reading this, then it means that the rapture occurred. The rapture is a term for the moment Jesus calls to His believers, resurrecting the dead in Christ and bringing the already living believers up to heaven to be with Him. Here it is in scripture:

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

Why did it happen?

We were living in what was called the Church Age, AKA the New Testament times. In Old Testament times the people lived under the Law (The Ten Commandments.) The Old Testament folks had faith, but the faith was that their Messiah would come. Jesus the Messiah had not come yet. But in order to demonstrate that faith in the future promise of Messiah’s coming, and to be cleansed from their sins, they had to kill an animal twice a day and sacrifice it. Why? The blood is the life. (Deuteronomy 12:23). “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” (Leviticus 17:11). Then Jesus came, but the Jews didn’t recognize Him as Messiah, or those that did, rejected Him. When Jesus died, was resurrected and ascended into heaven, everything changed. Believers no longer needed to sacrifice because Jesus was the sacrifice. He shed His OWN blood for us! As a result of the Jews’ rejection of Him, Jesus has spent the last 2000 years building His church from Gentile peoples (Romans 11:25, Acts 15:14-17). Now the Church Age is over, He is returning His attention to the Jews, and now it is Judgment time for all of those left behind.
Why weren’t we taken?

You might wonder about people whom you thought were Christians who are still here. Not everyone who professed Jesus was truly saved. We cannot tell who is saved and who is not, but Jesus knows who is who. He took the true believers. Intellectual assent is not saving faith. Tradition is not saving faith. Church-going habit is not saving faith. Only true believers were taken. A true believer is described in John 6:29: “Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”God sent Jesus to die for your sins, as the eternal sacrifice to satisfy His justice. Sin must be punished, because it is a crime. Jesus took the punishment and paid the debt for all sins forever. As a result, you would have been pardoned- IF you had believed! But you chose to reject Jesus’ pardon, during the now concluded Church Age, or you added to belief in Him with a man-made rules or tradition. So, you are here now. John 11:25 “Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” I hope the rapture convinced you to believe it!

What will happen next?

Unfortunately, you are in for the roughest time that there ever was and ever will be. Jesus said “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24: 21-22). He is saying that if the Tribulation went on longer than 7 years surely EVERY person would die! The Tribulation is when Jesus will pour out His anger against sin and sinners. Christians do not have to endure it because we took the pardon and believed in Him before the rapture, or before they died. So Jesus removed us from this terrible time. Jesus will send increasingly terrible judgments on the earth to punish sinners. Starting now, ¼ of earth’s population will die in war and famines and diseases. Then another 1/3 will die, equaling half the globe’s population before the Tribulation is even half over! Your life is at extreme risk. If you die before asking Jesus forgiveness of your sins and becoming a believer in Him, you will go to hell forever. Sin is real. God’s judgment of sin is real. Satan is real. Hell is real. The coming Antichrist is real. Everything in the bible is real. Not any other book. Not the Mormon bible. Not the Catholic bible. Only the Christian BIBLE is truth!

What must I do to be saved?
You must repent. The jailer at Philippi saw the marvelous joy in Paul and Silas, even while they were chained in the lowest jail, and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you & your household.” (Acts 16:30-31). You have to believe that your sins prevented you from being raptured and will prevent you from going to heaven when you die. Sins are your wrong thoughts, words, and deeds against God. Everyone has wrong thoughts, words, deeds, so that means everyone sins! You need to be sorry for them, and have faith in Jesus. King David was sorry, in Psalm 38:4 he said: “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.” Do you feel guilty for your sins? You should. They are crimes against a Holy God. Do as David did: “I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.” (Psalm 38:18). In so doing you acknowledge that Jesus is the only person who CAN forgive them, having lived a sinless life and shedding His blood as the pure sacrifice for YOU. Once you do this, He will forgive you and then He will send the Holy Spirit to you to help you understand the bible. If you do not confess and come to faith in Jesus, the Bible will never make sense. And worse, you will be at risk from the lying delusion coming upon the whole earth.
What if I wait and see how things go before I confess and repent?

Don’t do it! A great delusion will come over the whole world and those who are not saved in faith by Jesus’ blood will believe the delusion. The bible says, “The coming of the lawless one (ANTICHRIST) is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)The Good News is, Jesus still loves you and wants you! If you repent and ask Him to forgive, He will. You’ll still go through the horrendous times, but when you die you will go to heaven and live forever with Jesus. Your first step is to repent & believe, and you will be saved from hell. Also, you will then understand the bible. The bible tells you what to do and what will happen next. The most important thing to remember is, JESUS LOVES YOU! Don’t mess it up again. Repent now!!!!!!!

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Posted in end time, light pillars, prophecy

Unusual v-shaped light pillars

I love celestial displays, especially auroras. I had the privilege of seeing them twice, once in Maine and once in Canada. Today spaceweather.com reports on light pillars, which are common in winter, but these are decidedly UNcommon. Here is what they have to say:

V-TOPPED LIGHT PILLARS: Light pillars are a common sight around cities in winter. Urban lights bounce off ice crystals in the air, producing tall luminous columns sometimes mistaken for auroras. But the light pillars Mike Hollingshead saw on Jan. 26th near a corn mill in Blair, Nebraska, were decidedly uncommon. “They had V-shaped tops,” he explains, “and some of the Vs were nested.” Here is what he saw:

Pretty, aren’t they! Here is more of an explanation from spaceweather:

“These light pillars are not just rare, they are exceptional!” declares atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. “Ordinary pillars are produced by plate-shaped ice crystals roughly half way between you and the light source. These are different. Their rarely seen flared tops show that they were made by column shaped crystals drifting slowly downwards and aligned horizontal by air resistance.” “The flares are a form of the upper tangent arcs that we sometimes see in daytime halo displays,” he continues. “But even more exotic, some flares have a second one nested within them! Some ice crystal columns do not rotate but instead keep two of their prism faces improbably horizontal to give us the very uncommon Parry arcs of solar halo displays. The nested flares here are amazing and probably the light halo equivalent of Parry arcs.”

I hope you understood all that. As for me, I caught “pretty” and ‘exceptionally uncommon.’ Expect more of the uncommon as we draw near to the rapture and then of course the skies will explode with awe-inspiring and fear-inducing displays as a matter of almost daily course. Here are a few of the celestial fireworks to come –

“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.” (Rev 6:12)

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Matthew 24:29)

“After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.” (Revelation 7:1)

“Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.” (Revelation 8:10)

“Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. ” (Revelation 8:12)

And more…but you get the idea. By the time the trumpet judgments of Revelation 8 come along, the weird and uncommon light pillars will look quaint and old fashioned, almost like a Morse Code machine next to an iPod.

The Lord is sending warnings to us for the purpose of awakening us to His presence. Throughout the Church Age, which began when He was resurrected and ascended into heaven, He has been drawing us to Him through grace. As the time draws to a close for this age to end, and the last 7 years of the Age of Law to conclude, He will pour out His wrath on the disbelieving and sinning world. Still, He will make opportunity to come to Him. These signs now and the signs to come are His way of communicating with us to repent. Repentance means that you understand He exists, He is moral and Holy, and that all the bad things you think, say, and do are a crime against Him and His Holiness. Unholy people will not enter heaven, but if you are sorry for your crimes, and ask Jesus to forgive them, He will. Jesus died as the sacrifice for sin for all time. Don’t ask me why God set it up that there had to be sacrifices in the first place, I don’t know the why of it. Only the fact of it. Jesus death satisfied God’s standard for punishment and all you need to do is go through Jesus to enter heaven.

If you disbelieve all of this, then ask yourself three sets of questions: what makes you think you are good enough to go to heaven? What IS “good enough?” Is there an absolute standard? Since everybody you ask says they are good enough to get to heaven, does that mean everybody will be there? Child molesters don’t think what they do is wrong. So where does someone draw the line?

Second, ask yourself why the world is going crazy. Because it most certainly is going crazy. These things happening are predicted and will continue to unfold just as the bible says.

The final question is, what will you do in response?
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Posted in end time, prophecy

About them FEMA camps

Our nation, and the world is no longer what it was. Riots in the Middle East lead directly to another, and over the past week the conflagration has ignited a regional revolution over there. In America, our rights and freedoms are being chipped away at in increasing pace. What was once a scalpel excision of rights from the Constitution is now a sledgehammer pounding. What with TSA pat downs and Government’s dictatorial and arbitrary decisions to restrict our movements in and around the nation and world, it puts the fear of government into most people. Add to that, “watch lists,” surveillance nation, prevention of entry at public places, denial of legal protest activity and banning of videotaping of law enforcement at work, we see clearly that Big Brother is here to stay.

The totalitarianism drift of this nation and all the other nations will result in earth’s final dictatorship- the Antichrist’s regime. It doesn’t take a genius to see the totalitarian drift our own US government is taking, and it doesn’t take a theological scholar to see that the earth’s final human government will be a complete dictatorship. (Rev 13:3). In between the now and the then, people are becoming increasingly worried about a rumor of  “FEMA camps”. These camps are allegedly locations around the nation that are reportedly being built, or have been built, to contain massive segments of the population in repressive times to come. The US government is reportedly fusing together the alphabet organizations (CIA-FBI-HSA-FEMA-NSA etc) to become one gargantuan monolithic governmental agency designed to hold the US populations in containment camps, perhaps to torture or even kill us. That is the rumor.

I do know about the FEMA camp rumors. Those rumors have been circulating for a very long time. I know that this week the heated rhetoric has ramped up even more and that people are getting fairly worried about it. Former Navy SEAL and MN Governor Jesse Ventura had a recent show on TruTV about it but a careful watching didn’t really illuminate any further facts about the camps than any other show.The burial vaults that were allegedly piled up for use by the government featured on the show are actually burial vaults … and they are stored at that location because they are, um, a burial vault manufacturing and storage facility.

Here is what the bible says: Luke 21:12- “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.” Hal Lindsey interprets that verse as happening beginning now and into and throughout the Tribulation. Watch his Hal Lindsey Report about it for 1-21-11 here to decide of you interpret it that was too. I don’t. The parallel verse in Matthew 24:4-9 is more chronological “And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”

Prior to Christians being persecuted all the previous signs will have occurred, and the famines and pestilences Jesus is talking about are depicted in Revelation 6, and there is no doubt that the tribulation has begun.

Additionally, the Olivet Discourse is given completely to the Jews for their understanding, because the church age will have ended and Gentile believers will have vanished. Notice the verse in Luke says that they will be delivered up to synagogues. Not churches. The rounding up as described in the Olivet Discourse and in Revelation 13 is separate and distinct from the normal persecution that Christians have always endured on this earth since Stephen’s martyrdom in 34-35 AD. Revelation 13 says “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.” By then, yes, some kind of containment facility will likely have been developed, because I cannot envision how all the peoples all around the world will be rounded up and contained until their murder unless there are some facilities to do so. Just as likely, existing jails will be used.

I won’t write about the FEMA camps for a few reasons. I am not convinced we will be here for the coming Christian roundup and encampment, times that include persecution in prisons and death through martyrdom. (Although a case could be made that NOW is a tough time, it is a picnic compared to what’s coming.) Secondly, I try really hard in the delivering of this blog’s information not to add to the general confusion. I want to bring light to the situation, comfort in the face of what is coming. Also, I try to keep the focus on Jesus. FEMA camps are a rumor that is hard to pin down, doesn’t add to anyone’s general comfort, and is a sign that that doesn’t stem from biblical knowledge and is better interpreted as being against the timing of the end time as opposed to occurring in the Tribulation.

Last, even IF we are sent to camps prior to the Tribulation (which I DO NOT believe) Jesus is still in our hearts and that would be a great place to be a light for Him. Many people became saved in the concentration camps in WWII. Luke 21:12b-15 goes on to say of the people put into prisons for His name’s sake: “You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.”

I believe our Federal government has become our enemy. I believe that wholeheartedly. However I do not believe Christians will be rounded up and placed in government-run FEMA camps anytime soon. That is giving our government too much credit. Not for their will and intent, but for their ability to execute.

Jesus said not to worry. I am not worried about the FEMA camps. The FEMA camp conspiracy contributes to a climate of fear in the world. The scriptures contribute to a climate of peace in the heart. I choose peace.
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Posted in end of days, end time, prophecy

Stop it!

I listened to a great John MacArthur sermon that discussed how sin starts and what happens when we allow sin to continue without ending it at its root. MacArthur’s sermon is titled “Hacking Agag to pieces” and you can listen to or read part one here, and part 2 here. I recommend it.

There is a section of the two-part hour long sermon that made me think of a Bob Newhart skit. In the skit from MadTV, Newhart is a psychologist seeing a patient for the first time. Now, here is the salient part of MacArthur’s sermon about sin:

“Now what is he [Paul] saying? I’ll tell you what he’s saying. Stop lusting. It’s not too mystical. Stop lusting. It’s like 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee immorality.” Do you want to put to death the lusts in your heart? Then stop entertaining them. Peter doesn’t describe some complex program of therapy, he says quit lusting. Stop it. Put it out of your life. There’s no point sitting around waiting for some heavenly power to erase lust. There’s no point spending hours and hours or years and years looking for the right formula to chase away the demon of lust. Here’s a most simple straight-forward means of killing sin, stop lusting…stop it. It’s kind of like James 4 which says resist the devil and he’ll flee from you. Stop lusting and you’ll stop sinning.”

Here is the Newhart piece which I believe makes a great companion to the MacArthur point about sin. Watch the first 2:40:

LOL! If you want to get the impact of the point, then listen to MacArthur’s full part one of ‘Hacking Agag to pieces’. Then think of the Newhart skit. We laugh at the moment when Newhart says “STOP IT!” but there is truth to those words. We engage in self-indulgent therapies for sins we maintain are generated outside of our bodies, not inside. We let them linger, run around, placate them because those sins are ‘not our fault’. But MacArthur is right. There is no complex therapy that will help us stop sin. There is no divining rod to pass over us to erase it. It is up to us to stop it at the root. And that root is our thoughts. Do not think about your lusts. Do not entertain thoughts of them. STOP IT.

“Easy for you to say that!” you might make a charge against me. But I’ve been there. I’m still there. I have to work really really hard at not letting sinful thoughts enter into my head. When I find them, I have to work at telling my brain to “STOP IT”. It’s work. Paul said in Romans 6:12 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” Do not. It is as simple as that. “Present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” If you put on your armor, resist the devil, and guard your thoughts, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:13b-14). And that is a very good place to be.
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Posted in end time, middle east unrest, prophecy

Unrest in the Middle East: ripped from the pages of the bible (UPDATED)

UPDATE: Please go here for update as of 2-21-11, as events are moving so fast. Link also includes map.

There has been unrest, regime change, or heavy protesting taking place in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan and Lebanon over the last several weeks. Arutz Sheva reports, “With no fewer than five major areas of unrest/revolutions/regime changes going on in the Arab world, Arab satellite television, one of the mainstays of information dissemination in the Middle East, has been playing a major role in communicating news – or attempting, if not to suppress it, then at least to spin it.”

Part of that suppression is Egypt’s decision to shut off internet today in the wake of intensifying protests against the government. The people have been protesting President Hosni Mubarek, Egypt’s President for nearly thirty years. As this Dallas Morning News editorial aptly titled ‘Why we should care about Egypt protests‘ states, “American foreign policy in the Middle East, for the past four decades, has relied heavily on keeping certain dictatorships firmly in power — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan. We call most of them monarchies, but their rulers are not in power because of any kind of free and fair election. They survive because the U.S. government does everything in its power to keep them there. Despite all of our talk about democracy, it would be America’s (and Israel’s ) worst nightmare if the government of Hosni Mubarak were to suddenly fall from power and be replaced by a democratically elected government that truly represents the will of the Egyptian masses. Because the Egyptian masses are not predictable and could easily be swayed by the populist promises of Islamist parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood. Every single Middle Eastern country with a democratic form of government has experimented with the extremes — even Israel. Eventually, voters learn to moderate their leadership, but it takes time. And when you’re talking about the Middle East’s most populist country with an extremely high poverty rate, it really could take Egyptians a long time to figure out what, exactly they want. In the meantime, Egypt risks lurching back and forth, and an elected Islamist government could well decide, for example, that it’s No. 1 priority is to support its Hamas brothers in neighboring Gaza.”

Unrest and collapsing peace talks in the Middle East are constant and troublesome, but revolutions and prophetic alliances being cemented before our eyes is quite another thing entirely. Tunisia, Algeria, and Sudan are northern tier African countries prophesied to ally with Turkey-Iran-Russia in the Gog-Magog battle Ezekiel describes in chapters 38 and 39. Joel C. Rosenberg discussed a growing concern of the tightening ties between Russia, Iran and Sudan, here.

As we know, last week Lebanon’s government fell because of a governmental coup by the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Hezbollah is backed by Iran and Syria. Tunisia and Algeria are protesting economic hardships and the obvious graft and corruption of wealthy officials in the face of devastating poverty. Additionally, the Israel peace talks are widely acknowledged to have failed this month.

In a short article titled “Winds of Arab revolt reach Yemen” it was stated “Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Yemeni capital yesterday to demand the end of the three-decade rule of its President in the latest sign of rebellion sweeping the Arab world.”

It seems that unrest, even revolutions, are catching. Yet Jesus told us in Matthew 24:7 that in the Tribulation nation would rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. The word for nation in this context is “ethnos”, or ‘race’. This means that civil war will be a norm in addition to country vs. country kinds of war. It is interesting to note that Yemen and Egypt’s leaders have been in power for about thirty years, Tunisia’s President has been in power for for 22, Yemen’s president for 21 years.

There is a reason all these middle eastern nations are in the news just now. They are prominent in the last days and in the Tribulation. They are biblically prophesied to have a role in God’s continuing plan of redemption and judgment. That they are nearly at the point of fulfilling that role now speaks to how close we are to the rapture.
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